Just do a Google or YouTube search for "morning routine" and
you'll get more than you probably bargained for.

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The stars of the videos are people who've developed fan-bases
online, and want to show their fans a peek into their
lives. Of course,
everything is pretty obviously staged and scripted, and all of
the videos sound and look professionally made.

"So, it's 6am and I'm getting up! Here's where I curl my hair
(the bathroom)! Here's where I do my make-up; I love Bobbi Brown
bronzer. I picked out my outfit last night..."

It's like watching a MTV cribs starring teenage girls except all
of the homes look relatively modest, and therefore, relatable to
the majority of viewers.

Lukasiak's morning routine video was the first I saw before I
started to dive deeper into the trend. Similar to the "haul
videos" (where teens buy make up or hair products and then sit in
front of their cameras and talk about each specific purchase),
the "morning routine" craze has erupted.

Here are scenes from four different morning routine videos so you
can see the similarities for yourself (the first belongs to
Lukasiak):

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All of these videos have between 600k and 2 million views, and
many of the videos created to capture winter routines also link
out to the morning routines for other seasons.

I chose to look at one in particular belonging to Keaton Milburn. Milburn has 90,000
subscribers, and mostly vlogs about beauty products and how she
uses them.

Her morning routine video has nearly 900,000 views, is 9 minutes
long, and is a great example if you're looking to recreate the
anatomy of a successful routine video for the teenage
demographic.

First, we watch Milburn wake up. It's important to note that this
is likely staged. The lighting's too good!

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Then, morning routine videos usually feature a dog or other
family pet that's ingrained themselves into the waking up
process.

There is a LOT of brand name dropping and there's almost always a
pop song lightly playing in the background.

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"Then I go upstairs and light a candle so it smells festive in my
room." Everything is documented.

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Then we watch her put on her makeup. She lists the brands and
products she's using as she puts it on.

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We're about 7 minutes in to the morning routine. At the end, she
shows us her outfit, and brushes her teeth with Crest Whitening
toothpaste.

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It doesn't seem that brands are endorsing these videos, but
rather, the creators are hoping that the brands they mention will
notice them and give them endorsement deals. After all, this is
what happened with Michelle Phan several years ago after she made
a video about putting on makeup while sitting on an
airplane.